Sleeping longer?

Yesterday (Sunday) was an interesting day.
Molly and Andy and Esther woke up in the morning and started getting ready for church. We are still learning how much time it takes to get all 3 of us ready and out the door to go places. We made quite a comical bunch with Mom speeding to get us to church, Esther crying in the back seat, and Dad shaving in the car mirror. We made it to church though, and only 10 minutes "late" to boot.
Esther was good during church, like she was the last week - just needing a break to have some brunch. Glenda set up her grandkids' playroom for Molly to feed Esther, so Molly can take Esther back there and still hear the sermon.
After church we ate at Burger King, but Esther got pretty fussy while we were visiting after eating, so we had to leave to go home and feed her. She was crying nearly uncontrollably while Mom got ready to feed her, but once she started eating she calmed down. Esther wailed and cried again when it was time for her to eat again later in the day. Then she slept for a record 6 hours (!) from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. after eating a lot more around 11.
We are wondering if she is starting to go through another growth spurt again. One of Molly's books said that babies go through growth spurts at 3 weeks and at 6 weeks.
Esther has sort of been making coo-ing sounds the last couple days, once or twice per day. She seems to be able to follow people's faces and large objects as they come in and out of her field of vision.
We are still amazed at how strong she is. She has always been able to hold her head up well, and she can also support her weight on her legs. She nearly stands up on her own, with Dad just keeping her from leaning forward or backward.

5 weeks old!

Esther is 5 weeks old already! As you can see from last week's photo, and this week's photo, she is smiling more often now. We aren't 100% sure that she is smiling intentionally (i.e. she knows she is smiling), but it seems to be happening more often now. She seems to smile when she is drifting off to sleep, or right before Mommy feeds her. In this photo, she is smiling while laying on Daddy's lap. Sometimes when Daddy makes funny voices she will start to smile a little bit.

Esther is still not sleeping through the night, but she is sleeping a bit longer at times, maybe averaging 3-4 hours at a time. There are days where she doesn't sleep on her own for Mommy though, which makes it hard for Mommy to do things that she wants to do. Esther does seem to like riding in Mom's Kozy baby carrier though - which lets Mom get around the house a little bit.

Esther, Mom and Dad went to visit Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Mathews for dinner at Greenwood Village Tuesday night (1/22). She was a good little guest, and was quiet and slept the whole time until it was time to leave and for her to eat.

4 weeks old!

Esther is 4 weeks old today! It's hard to believe that we have been home from the hospital for that long, and that Esther is 4 weeks old. She definitely looks like she has grown since coming home from the hospital. She had her 4 weeks doctor's appointment yesterday, and measured 9 pounds and 4 ounces, meaning she gained 1 pound and 2 ounces from her appointment only 13 days earlier! She grew 1/4" to 20 1/4" long. The doctor said she is in the 75th percentile for weight, and the 25th percentile for length. If she has her dad and great-grandpa Rex' genes, she will catch back up in the length category soon...

Esther is still not sleeping more than 3 hours at a time usually. At night she likes to eat around 8, 11, 3, and 6. Mom helps Dad get his rest by feeding Esther in the nursery instead of in the bedroom. Esther still gets cranky sometimes and wakes Dad up with her crying. She is a good baby overall - it's usually not too hard to figure out what she wants - she rarely cries for no reason.
Esther might be starting to smile - she seems to smile when we make noise with a crinkly toy, or when she is starting to drift off to sleep after a meal. She makes a lot of noise when she is going to sleep or when she is just waking up - grunting and groaning and yawning.

First Post

I thought it would be fun to set up a blog, as a way of keeping a journal of everything that's going on in our growing family, since things are changing almost every day at this point.
We have photos on flickr, but this blog should be a way to put a story behind the photos, and keep a more detailed record of what's happening.

I'll catch everyone up on what happened in the past month...

In December Molly and I were wrapping up our Childbirth classes at Methodist Hospital downtown, and getting ready at home for our baby's arrival. Since we didn't want to find out what we were having, we were calling the baby "Little E" - because we decided to name a boy Elijah Jacob or a girl Esther Lynn. We bought a new 4-door car (2008 Chevy Malibu) for Little E, and we received lots and lots of presents from generous family and friends at baby showers. Everything was ready for Little E's arrival!
Esther Lynn Mathews came into the world at 9:14 a.m. on Wednesday, December 19, 2007.
Esther was 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and 19 3/4 inches long.
She was a beautiful baby right from the start - big slate blue eyes and blonde (almost white) hair. She looked perfect! Mommy and Daddy were so happy and so grateful to God for the miracle that he gave us, after we had been trying to have a child for over 2 years.

From birth Esther was very strong and able to hold her head up for several seconds at a time. She really enjoyed being held by people, especially laying on her tummy on others' chests. She made lots of funny faces, the most frequent being a surprised look with her eyebrows raised and her little mouth pursed tightly into an 'O'. She sleeps hard, and when she wakes up she grunts and groans and squeaks and stretches.
Molly had a c-section, which went great. Molly, Andy and Esther stayed in the hospital for 3 days after Molly's c-section so that the nurses and doctors could keep an eye on Molly while she healed, and on Esther while she grew.
Things went pretty well at the hospital, although sleep was hard to come by. Esther got to know her parents better, and had lots of family come to greet her.
We went home from the hospital on Saturday, December 22, in the afternoon. That evening we celebrated Christmas with Molly's family at our house.
We slept a lot better at home, although Esther's feeding and sleeping schedule was very irregular.
On Christmas Day we celebrated Christmas with Andy's family at Andy's parents' house.
Most of our first week at home was spent with Molly feeding Esther, Andy helping to take care of Molly and Esther, and trying to get some rest while keeping the house somewhat clean. We would not have made it without the meals that were prepared for us by our church family and by Andy's Mom.
Esther had her first bath, first stroller ride outside, and first doctor's appointment all on Wednesday, December 26th. The doctor's appointment went great. Esther was gaining weight and only had a slight bit of jaundice.
Esther celebrated her first New Years at Grandma and Grandpa Mathews' house.
Esther's 2nd doctor's appointment also went great on January 2. She was up over 8 pounds this time! Esther holds very still and doesn't cry at all while Dr. Kidd examines her.
Molly got her staples out on January 3, and has been slowly gaining more flexibility and strength, but is still a little stiff in the middle.
Andy went back to work on Thursday, January 10, after Molly was cleared to drive 3 weeks after her surgery. Andy is bored at work, after being able to play with Esther whenever he wanted to when he was at home.
Esther went to church for the first time on Sunday, January 13. Our church family celebrated her arrival with us as truly a miracle and a blessing from God.

That catches us up to today - Monday, January 14. Andy is at work, bored, thinking of Esther, so he thought it would be a good time to set up a blog about her and his family. :-) He hopes you enjoy reading this blog in the future.